Clostridium butyricum Alleviates Meat Quality Deterioration in Eimeria -Infected Lambs Alongside Recovery of Thiamine Diphosphate-Dependent Glucose Metabolism

Abstract Eimeria spp. infection impairs lamb performance and meat quality, but the associated muscle metabolic basis and potential nutritional mitigation remains unclear. Twenty-four lambs were assigned to control (CON), Eimeria-infected (IF), and Eimeria-infected supplemented with Clostridium butyricum (CB; CB-IF) groups. Infection increased drip loss, and reduced cooking yield, whereas CB supplementation improved these traits. Metabolomics analysis revealed reduce thiamine diphosphate (TDP) and 4-methyl-5-hydroxyethylthiazole phosphate (HET-P) after infection, with partial recovery following CB supplementation. Integrated transcriptomic and WGCNA analysis identified coordinated associations among thiamine-related metabolites, glucose- and mitochondrial-metabolism-related gene signatures, and meat-quality traits. RT-qPCR supported the expression patterns of selected transcriptomic candidates. Collectively, CB supplementation alleviated selected meat-quality alterations and was associated with coordinated recovery of thiamine-related and glucose/mitochondrial metabolic signatures during Eimeria spp. infection.